News Round Up: Transmogrification Will Require You to Own Items, Blizzard CMs Have Lives, and More

There were a lot of blue posts yesterday and I think it's only fair that we post them up. They answer a lot of questions in general about these new features that were announced such as transmogrification.

These posts confirm that you will need to own the items already in order to transmogrify into them--one of the most discussed aspects of the new system. This will be a letdown for some. It makes perfect sense as it will encourage players to revisit dungeons and raids that many have never seen, but for those of us who raided when they were current, it is a letdown if we have deleted our sets. I know I deleted all my sets come Cataclysm simply because I had zero bank space for anything thanks to all the WotLK sets in there. I will now have to recollect them all it appears!

Patch 4.3 Sneak Peek at Gamescom 2011

Everything we've already heard, but from Bashiok, who is undeniably much cooler than random internet transcripts.

The gamescom 2011 convention is underway in Cologne, Germany, and the first day kicked off with a few big patch 4.3-related announcements for World of Warcraft. Here's a quick summary of the features and content that the World of Warcraft developers are talking about at the show:

Transmogrification: The ethereals are setting up shop around Azeroth to offer adventurers their latest astonishing interdimensional service. The upcoming Transmogrification feature will let players customize the appearance of their gear like never before. For the full rundown on how it works, check out our recently posted blog: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/3309048#blog

Void Storage: Now that you've got a good reason to hang onto your old gear, you're going to need somewhere to store it all. With Transmogrification comes Void Storage, a long-term stash where players will be able to keep the items they just can't seem to let go of. Those ethereals think of everything, don't they? Look for an official blog post with screenshots and details tomorrow, August 18.

Death to Deathwing: Alongside all this comes a whole lot of new content. The developers revealed that patch 4.3 will feature three new 5-player dungeons, setting the stage for the ultimate fight in Cataclysm: the final showdown against Deathwing himself. Patch 4.3 will include a whole new tier of raid content culminating in an epic boss encounter unlike anything you’ve yet experienced in World of Warcraft.

Raid Finder and More: We're also working on a number of other new features, including a Raid Finder -- a tool similar to the Dungeon Finder designed to match players looking for PUG-friendly raids -- and some cool renovations for Azeroth's traveling Darkmoon Faire.

But don't worry -- there's plenty of time to prepare. We’re keeping a close eye on players’ progress through the Rage of the Firelands content, and lots of folks are still busy working on obtaining the Dragonwrath legendary staff, completing the Molten Front dailies, and rallying to take down Ragnaros. We’ll have lots more details on the raid, dungeons, and other content coming in patch 4.3 in the months ahead, so keep an eye on the official World of Warcraft website.

Deathwing Raid Setting?

Zarhym's having fun here, but it would be cool if Deathwing involved flying all over the world or the Maelstrom.

He's a tough one. Those skilled enough to take him on will do so just about everywhere... From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam... Oh wait.

Transmogrification Limits: Yes You Will Have to Own the Item to Transmogrify Into It

it will be nice to see the old armor sets again, and glaives and so on.

everyone has some item they like a lot for aesthetic reasons but have had to put it in their bags as it is no longer "viable".

it's good we have this option to make use of that gear once again without it being a dps/hps loss. just think, thunderfury with the stats of the tank sword off beth'tilac! :p

You will not be able to transmogrify using a legendary item as either the source or the recipient of a change.

Time to farm my twill set again

This system is going to launch with fairly conservative rules, so that we can get it up and running as soon as possible and make fun improvements down the road. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that we’ll eventually allow transmogrification to use the twill set or , but probably not for the initial launch of the feature.

This basically punishes Lore Masters for doing all the quests already. In order to get the look I want, I'm going to have to reroll DK and start over again to get my quest / starter gear?

*sigh*

We would like to offer some alternative ways to get favorite items that are no longer available, such as perhaps the dungeon tier sets or the DK start gear. This is something we will expand over time – not every favorite item will be immediately available at launch. But we’ll keep a list of items that get requested by the players and work to get them in someday.

Guess What? Blizzard Plays Other Games

Keep in mind there are thousands of employees here. So just about every combination of playstyle you can imagine is represented here. Even in my own personal play experience I've covered a good chunk of the gambit.

I have:

1) joined and raided with guilds comprised of non-Blizzard employees who did not know where I work,2) ran with premade Battleground groups back in vanilla WoW and TBC, where those players did not know who I was,3) been in a raiding guild made up almost entirely of Blizzard employees and friends/family,4) been in a raiding guild where a few members knew where I work, but did not "out" me to the rest of the group (they respected my wish to be anonymous),5) had Arena partners who never knew I work here, and6) have run dungeons with random players, all the way from random people on my realm in vanilla WoW, to people matched with me via the Dungeon Finder.

Ultimately, when we're in the game we're just players like you. I've quested and run Battlegrounds and dungeons with random people at nearly all levels as both Horde and Alliance. My employment does not shape my gameplay experiences nearly as much as my gameplay experiences inform me as an employee. I find it much easier to approach the game as "just another player," as it makes my profession that much more enjoyable when I get to join in the social aspect of WoW without the Blizz tag. ;)

So I presume you've seen all the good and bad when grouping ---LFD ?

err...enough said :)

I've had some bumpy rides in the Dungeon Finder for sure, but the positive or "normal" experiences far outweigh the bad ones. I've definitely never experienced the majority of the horror stories I read on the forums.

I've yet to be kicked from a dungeon group as far as I can remember, and if I ever get a Vote to Kick prompt, I usually click "No" unless the player seems to intentionally be causing problems, or is being very selfish and constantly making everyone else wait for him/her. In the case of the latter -- sure, everyone has personal lives and sometimes real life calls -- I carry the philosophy they can always get back in the queue when they can actually devote the necessary time to completing a dungeon without interruption.

Though I have to ask, you finish Molten Front yet?

I haven't. My commitment to doing the dailies everyday fell off a bit the last couple of weeks. I've been pretty busy at work lately, and sometimes I just don't feel like playing games by the time I get home. My weekends have been pretty packed full of fun festivities as well (including a romantic getaway this past weekend to Monterey, CA!). I'm also bouncing between a few different games at the moment. Yep, I like other games too! ;)

That pug you just picked up in dungeon finder, who keeps going AFK during your run and face pulling mobs, yeah, that's Zarhym--he's busy responding to your posts on these forums.

Now the real question, Zarhym.....

Will you be trying the new Raid Finder when 4.3 is released? And are you, as a player, excited about it?

Yep. :) I haven't raided enough in Cataclysm due to my work schedule and real-life commitments. So even though my guild is level 25 and working on Firelands, I'll probably find myself PuG raiding pre-4.3 content via this feature.

Hehe. We have team-building exercises here and there during our lunch breaks. Sometimes that just involves going to lunch together. Yesterday though, we set aside time to play WoW together. We couldn't decide on what we wanted to do, and someone left their phone/authenticator at home (lookin' at you Lylirra), so Neth, Bash, Daxx, Kaivax, and I ended up all rolling humans together and questing as a group. Elwynn chat at the time was... colorful.

Azeroth's Good and Evil Not Clearly Defined

I think the idea is more to let people know that the stereotypical "bad guys" aren't always the bad guys and the stereotypical "good guys" may not always be good guys.

This is well said. Many games out there tend to have a "good/honorable" faction and an "evil/dark" faction. We've strayed from that formula after evolving the Horde and Alliance stories through Warcraft I-III and World of Warcraft.

The point is there is moral ambiguity on both sides, even while, at a glance, the Horde would appear more savage and the Alliance would appear as the more traditional good guys. We like having more character depth than that. We like fusing both factions with moral and political ambiguities. Both the Horde and Alliance have seen moments of triumph, as well as moments of disgrace.

Their destinies, however, are not written in stone. Only time will tell how the actions of their leaders will be judged. But one thing is certain, neither faction is one dimensional in terms of their actions, ambitions, and morals.

2011 European Battle.net Invitational

Two days of intense rivalry and top-notch entertainment at the 2011 European Battle.net Invitational came to a climactic conclusion on the evening of Sunday, August 7. And what an event it was!

This was our first visit to Poland and we were amazed by the warm welcome we received at Warsaw’s Złote Tarasy commercial centre, not forgetting the passion, energy and enthusiasm of an incredible crowd.

Thousands of Attendees

The audience supporting the best European players battling for the European titles turned the cinema into a real eSports arena. For two days the Multikino was filled with the cheers, chants, standing ovations and hola waves of thousands of attendees who ensured the 2011 European Battle.net Invitational was a huge success.

Thank you for coming (or watching the stream!)

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who came to see the event in Warsaw. We had a blast meeting you and talking to you. Some of you came from far away and we were delighted to see you there.

We would also like to express our gratitude to the exceptional number of people who watched the action on our live streams.

Quest for Victory

Eight top European StarCraft II players and eight of the best World of Warcraft 3v3 arena teams embarked on a quest for victory, pride, monetary perks and the right to be called European champions.

The battle went on for two days. But there could only be one winner for each of these tournaments. In the StarCraft II competition, Ret went undefeated and claimed the European title and the first place prize of $10,000 USD.

As for World of Warcraft, the members of Showtime proved their valor and were rewarded with the European crown, as well as a prize of $15,000 USD.

If you missed the chance to be there, you can catch a glimpse of the incredible atmosphere by checking out the photo coverage of the event. Also, if you want to witness Europe’s most skilled players and you haven’t seen the matches, or would like to watch them again, don’t fret! Simply make sure to check out our StarCraft II replays and VoDs page as well as our dedicated World of Warcraft VoDs page.

Onwards to BlizzCon

Once each region’s Battle.net Invitationals are over, all the winners will head to BlizzCon 2011, which will be held in October, in Anaheim, California.

The 2011 European Battle.net Invitational winners Ret and Showtime (StarCraft II and World of Warcraft respectively) – as well as runners-up NaNiWa and DNAW Trio – will be there, competing against the very best players and teams from around the world.

Once again, thank you very much for helping us make the 2011 European Battle.net Invitational a truly unforgettable event.

Comments

Comment by Adamsm

Wonder if the blizzard employee (who also plays the game) gets his armor, mounts and weapons the easy way. Already made and easily delivered by game.

Also, do the players who know who he is, do they treat him extra special unlike everyone else in their guild or out of it?

Just a thought.

Only if he's a GM; if he's not, then he earns it the same as the rest of us do.

Comment by OverZealous

on 2011/08/19 13:18:00

Hey, I'm all for more reasons to revisit old content. I don't think many people have seen BT or Sunwell, and this just gives them more reason to do so.

This. A lot of the old content gear looks totally different from the gear we're now getting from current dungeons and raids, and I for one really look forward to going back (although I could never let go of my old tier sets) and getting things I think look best. Looking forward to getting a few of the rarer models, aswell.

And this "News Round Up" must have been one of the most amusing ones yet, Zarhym's "Guess What? Blizzard Plays Other Games" was absolutely hilarious. And they managed to answer a lot of questions while being funny. Well done, Blizzard.

Anyway, I'm hyped as hell for 4.3 - what they've said so far has definitely peeked my interest. If they can do it anywhere near as epic as they say, I think we're in for some of the best stuff we've had yet.Granted, they like to give us visions of epicness.

Comment by therailz

on 2011/08/19 14:57:39

Which in itself also doesn't work, that's basically short-changing everyone who was around to be able to raid old Naxxramas etc.

If you cannot foresee the immense amount of complaining that is bound to come from the masses regarding the unavailable Dungeon Sets and Discontinued Tiers, I don't know what else to tell you.

Blizzard themselves said they will try to find a solution for those items. I can guarantee the impacted player base that you claim to be short-changed is far, far, FAR out-numbered by those who never saw that content.not to mention that most people who did do those raids most likely didnt keep the sets due to bank shortage so in essence they would be short changing you and maybe 5 other people.... also just because you played the game before people does not mean you are better or work harder then people like myself and millions of others who started during the wrath boom, its the other side of the coin newer people feel like they are entitled to get old unavailable mounts and older people think they are somehow better just because they could afford to play/happened to start before others, i couldnt play wow if i wanted to back in vanilla-tbc eras i was in high school had no money my pc was crap and i hadn't really been exposed to mmorpgs at that point, now i dont think i should be able to get old titles or old epic mounts that people spent months working for however saying that we shouldnt be able to work towards getting a piece of gear because you and your five freinds who held on to those sets dont want to be shortchanged LOL get real bro, if they dont implement ways to acquire the old gear that is gone from the game now it will be because they dont feel its important or unique enough to waste resources on.

Comment by monatu

on 2011/08/19 18:07:19

Why why oh WHY not Legenderies? i worked hard to get that blade.. 150 Geddon kills to get my last piece.. i understand that the proc has nothing to do with is since you get stats from the wep you transform and not the one you turn it into..

Im not alone here.. i was so gutted when i heard Legenderies is out of this awsome option.. most ppl with Legenderies worked DAMN HARD to get them and DISERVE to get this option PERIOD.. cmon Blizz give the commited hard working players some love here. !

and if your to worried that the Legenderies will be to common and easy to get.. lower the droprate .. though its low enough already there will still be needed alot of effort in 99% of the cases to get a Legendery drop !it will still be VERY rare .. and Legenderies will still keep its Legendary status for a looong time..

Frustrated Thundrefury / Sulfuras Owner

Comment by revansith666

on 2011/08/19 19:00:34

Does anyone know if this will be available to starter edition users? I seriously hope they share the love on that one by at least letting us change our lowbie gear to stuff that lets us not stick out like a sore thumb and let us don things more fashionable. *Cough Haliscan Cough*

Comment by Lynorah

Comment by Falrinn

on 2011/08/19 23:01:43

Does anyone know if this will be available to starter edition users? I seriously hope they share the love on that one by at least letting us change our lowbie gear to stuff that lets us not stick out like a sore thumb and let us don things more fashionable. *Cough Haliscan Cough*

Depends on how the cost works. It might require more then the Starter Edition money cap to use.

Plus since you can only use items you can equip as either the source or destination item, your selection will be extremely limited.

Comment by wunderwaffe

on 2011/08/20 09:40:52

FISH SHIELD!THE MOB DEMANDS IT!

Comment by Soldrethar25

on 2011/08/21 06:43:42

Well, I actually like that you have to own the items, it gives you a reason to go out and farm. Fortunately for me, I just needed

Comment by Araagorn

I really don't like this. It takes away the coolness of having the original... it's just stupid imo.

Comment by Adamsm

on 2011/08/22 20:03:55

I really don't like this. It takes away the coolness of having the original... it's just stupid imo.

You realize you need to have the original to do the mogging right?

Comment by crazymre

on 2011/08/23 16:31:07

So my comment would be are we goign to be able to mix and match say I like the look of Tier one shoulders but say Tier 6 chest or are we supposed to go with a whole set.

I want to mix and match and still have my Tier 12 heroic stats. Just wondering

Comment by Adamsm

on 2011/08/23 16:39:21

So my comment would be are we goign to be able to mix and match say I like the look of Tier one shoulders but say Tier 6 chest or are we supposed to go with a whole set.

I want to mix and match and still have my Tier 12 heroic stats. Just wondering

Yes, you can choose whatever item you want, as long as A) Same armour type and B) You can use it and C) You need the original piece(aka T1) in your inventory before you can do the mogging.

Comment by Alesmord

on 2011/09/04 16:18:14

Really cool but I think they should let legendary items, I mean those items are already and achievement for the tenacity that you need to end one, its really lame that a lot of people where able to hand shadowmourne or warglaives or hand of ragnaros and now those items are just to show the achievement.

Blizzard plz I dont care if you let the legendary idea at beggining but it would be very nice of you if you let us to get those for transmogrification.

PS: You should think on changing the name of the tool because its really hard to remember how to write it XD. Item customization is cooler I think.

Comment by Soldrethar

on 2011/09/04 16:52:33

I disagree with zarhym saying that the alliance is morally ambiguous and not a "good" faction. Having quested as alliance in burning crusade, wrath of the lich king, and cataclysm, and having read all the lore I can find on alliance, I can honestly say there has never once been a point where I went " wow, that was some shady screwed up stuff, I question the morals of this situation".

While it is not completely good, because obviously there are shady people in the alliance, I can say from my few years of experience that the alliance is a "good" moral-wise faction. As per the darkmoon faire description:

"Humans, night elves, dwarves, gnomes, draenei, and the savage worgen make up the illustrious Alliance. Proud and noble, courageous and wise, these races work together to preserve order in Azeroth. The Alliance is driven by honor and tradition. Its rulers are champions of justice, hope, knowledge, and faith. In a time when chaos and uncertainty reign, the Alliance remains steadfast in its determination to bring light to the darkest corners of the world."

So having read his response, I honestly don't understand what zarhym is talking about. The most glaring part of his post is where, referring to both horde and alliance leaders, he says "time will tell if they actions of their leaders will be judged". This is because of the fact that, me having quested as alliance in BC(including the vanilla zones back then) wrath, and cataclysm, there has never been a point where a leader, who we alliance didn't out and kill for being a baddie, will have to be "judged" for their "actions".

My apologies, I just have no idea what he is talking about, and the darkmoon faire alliance description above basically goes against the whole wow beginners guide description he was referring to. Not trying to start anything here, I just don't understand what he's talking about. Perhaps someone here could explain it better, as I may be misinterpreting him.

Comment by Rankkor

on 2011/09/04 18:55:47

I disagree with zarhym saying that the alliance is morally ambiguous and not a "good" faction. Having quested as alliance in burning crusade, wrath of the lich king, and cataclysm, and having read all the lore I can find on alliance, I can honestly say there has never once been a point where I went " wow, that was some shady screwed up stuff, I question the morals of this situation".

maybe you weren't paying attention then, cuz I did saw several points where they behaved like NOTHING a good guy would.

Borean Tundra: Horde get assaulted by Magnataurs and snobolds, what do they do? they fight them.

Alliance gets assaulted by Magnataurs and Snobolds, what do they do? disguise themselves as horde of course, and murder their leader so that the magnataurs attack the taunka and the orcs. This leads to the deaths of an inocent elderly shaman, and a lot of kidnapped (and later devoured) civilians.

That's something that made me go "wow that's some shady screwed up stuff".

there's more where that came from btw, its not an isolated incident, there's more stuff that's just plain WRONG the alliance has done in the past.

just going to briefly mention the ones I can think of the top of my head:

The invasion of Alterac Valley by the stormpike dwarves (Completely unprovoked, and even their own brigadier generals admit that land belongs to the orcs, they just dont care.)

The utter and complete extermination of every single troll in the shatterspear village. That's genocide in case you didn't took that class.

The breaking of the peace treaty that the horde and alliance had signed after the war of the lich king (wich they broke when they attacked Honor Point BEFORE the cataclysm)

And of course, who can forget taurajo?

Edit 2:

and about the last part of the leader's actions being judged, you missinterpreted it entirely.

do you know what "time will tell" means? it means that FOR NOW, most leaders dont have to be judged by what they have done (exeptions are mostly Sylvannas, Varian and Garrosh, the other leaders are squeaky clean) but eventually depending of what they do in the future they may or may not have to face judgment for their actions

In other words TIME WILL TELL if IN THE FUTURE the actions of these people will merit some form of judgment. For the time being however, one cannot simply point a finger at them and cast a judgment on them because while what they've done is harsh, they've had their reasons.

Edit 3: and dont take the description of the darkmoon faire so seriously, they are after all embellishing for both factions. They dont exactly described the horde as a bunch of savage bloodthirsty maniacs who wanna set the world of fire either. They put up a good description for both factions. But they are morally ambigous, neither faction is "the good guys" just as neither is "the bad guys"

After all, the alliance has had its heroic moments, and the horde does has its skeletons in their closet, just as much as the horde has had its times as the heroes, and the alliance has had its moments as tyrants

Comment by Soldrethar

on 2011/09/04 19:17:13

Ugg....nothing that isn't justifiable in some form I should've said. They ARE at war with the horde. The stormpike didn't "invade" alterac valley, some ironforge dwarf explorers went there to search for titan stuff, then the frostwolf orcs immediately attacked and murdered them, which started the war.

The shatterspear allied with the horde and started trying to wipe out the new night elf town of lor'denal, so the night elves and their new worgen pals had no choice but to attack them into their village and wipe them out, it was them or the trolls.

Taurajo? The alliance made a gap in their attack so that civilians could escape, and only killed those who tried to attack them, the majority escaped but ran into quilboar, not that the alliance tried to make this happen.

As to the magnatuar and snobold thing, my apologies I have no idea what you're talking about. What I meant was....as a faction, the alliance has never been "evil" or done horrific things that were given the thumbs up by the rest of the faction that wasn't justifiable, like the shatterspear wipe-out. Which is why I am confused by zarhyms post.

And zarhym is the very person who originally linked the darkmoon faire descriptions, so he's basically contradicting himself. I take the darkmoon faire descriptions seriously because they're very accurate compared to the wow beginners guide that zarhym was referring. By the large, the alliance can be described as a good alligned faction that is unfortunately plagued by bad apples that keep popping up everywhere in it.

Like major samuelson. Who is now dead. Because he was a baddie. And had bad hair.

Comment by Monday

on 2011/09/04 19:27:40

Not even gonna talka bout Taurajo, and let it be known that I disagree with the AV portion.

Comment by Rankkor

on 2011/09/04 19:38:39

The stormpike didn't "invade" alterac valley, some ironforge dwarf explorers went there to search for titan stuff, then the frostwolf orcs immediately attacked and murdered them, which started the war.

Orcs have lived there for nearly a century, Stormpike dwarves wanted to dig there, orcs said no. Rather than pick up and leave, they decided to try and take it by force.

The shatterspear allied with the horde and started trying to wipe out the new night elf town of lor'denal, so the night elves and their new worgen pals had no choice but to attack them into their village and wipe them out, it was them or the trolls.

that still dosen't justify genocide. Kill their armed forces= yes, wipe the whole town =no. A good guy would let the civilians live.

Taurajo? The alliance made a gap in their attack so that civilians could escape, and only killed those who tried to attack them, the majority escaped but ran into quilboar, not that the alliance tried to make this happen.

"The majority"? this is where you lack of horde quests shows. The majority died. Only a handful survived, and even then it was a cowardly attack in the middle of the night. Against a town that was mostly a civilian town with a minimal military presence.

As to the magnatuar and snobold thing, my apologies I have no idea what you're talking about.

Then as I said, you weren't paying attention, or your talk of "having done all the alliance quests" is nothing more than hot air: go to borean tundra, and do the alliance quests and see for yourself.

What I meant was....as a faction, the alliance has never been "evil" or done horrific things that were given the thumbs up by the rest of the faction that wasn't justifiable

and Zaryhm never said the alliance was evil, he said it was morally ambiguous.

Since you aparently dont know what ambigous means, I'll explain it to you.

Neither good

nor bad

Easy aint it?

If they were good guys, stuff like what they did in borean tundra wound't happen. but then if they were evil, letting the tauren civilians of taurajo have a chance to escape wouldn't had happen either. This is why they are morally ambiguous, because they aren't 100% good, nor 100% evil.

Comment by Rankkor

on 2011/09/04 19:41:02

let it be known that I disagree with the AV portion.

Disagree you may, but your own brigadier general (before those quests were removed once the BG tokens were gone) said in no uncertain terms that AV BELONGS to the orcs, but didn't cared anyways.